As many as 300,000 people are expected to come to Fayette County for the 2013 Boy Scouts Jamboree, a Scout executive said Monday.

Boy Scouts of America plans to spend $170 million during the next several years building a Jamboree Center, high-adventure base, summer camp, museum and leadership center in Fayette County, said Jack Furst, who serves on the Boy Scouts' national board. The group hopes to pump an additional $130 million into the national Scouting center in subsequent years.

"It will end up being the heartbeat of the Boy Scouts of America," said Furst, speaking at a Rotary Club meeting luncheon at the Charleston Civic Center on Monday. "This is a spectacular piece of property."

Earlier this year, the Boy Scouts announced plans to build the project -- called "The Summit" -- on a 10,600-property atop Garden Ground Mountain near Glen Jean.

The Boy Scouts reviewed 80 sites in 28 states, before deciding to bring the Jamboree Center and high-adventure base to Fayette County.

Since 1981, the Scouts have held Jamborees -- a 10-day event every four years -- at the Fort A.P. Hill U.S. Army base in Virginia. The Fayette County site will become the permanent home for all future Jamborees.

The event attracts 40,000 Scouts and Scout leaders, as well as another 260,000 visitors, Furst said.

"Badges are traded, friends are made, kids from New York meet kids from Seattle," Furst said. "It's an event that on a daily basis has 60,000 to 70,000 folks running around at any given time."

The Scouts have already started clearing brush on the site.

The high-adventure base and summer camp is expected to open in 2014. Scouts will take part in rock climbing, mountain biking, caving, whitewater rafting, caving and zip-lining.

"It's the edgy stuff," Furst said. "That's what the kids today want to do."

The group's next-largest high-adventure base -- in Philmont, N.M. -- has a big waiting list every year. Many of those Scouts will likely opt to come to West Virginia, Furst said.

The organization predicts that 100,000 Scouts -- about 5,000 a week -- will visit the high-adventure base and summer camp every summer.

"This is going to be a hot, hot spot for our youth," Furst said. "We're jazzed. We're glad to be here."

The Scouting center will be within 500 miles of 66 percent of the U.S. population and 33 percent of Canada's population.

Scouts are expected to fly into Yeager Airport in Charleston, as well as airports in Beckley; Richmond, Va.; Roanoke, Va.; Columbus, Ohio; Cincinnati; and Washington, D.C.

BSA plans to encourage Scouts and visitors to take Amtrak to Fayette County. Amtrak has train stations in nearby Thurmond and Prince.

The Fayette County site borders the New River Gorge National River park, which encompasses 100,000 acres.

"It's going to be great for our local Scouts, too," said Jeff Purdy, scout executive for the Buckskin Council, which includes Scouts from 19 West Virginia counties. "It's going to put the national spotlight on West Virginia."

Furst predicted that Scouts would have positive experiences at the camp, and perhaps return to live or vacation in Fayette County. The group expects property values near the scouting center to double -- or even triple -- during the next 10 years.

"This area is going to become very popular," Furst said. "It's going to be real interesting. We're going to bring in Scouts from all over the country, and some of them are going to stay and become West Virginians."

The Charleston Gazette, January 11, 2010

Eric Eyre, Staff Writer